Scientists and doctors in Sheffield are developing two novel devices that they say could lead to the improved prediction of premature births. Two major trials, together worth nearly a million pounds in funding, are being set up at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sheffield to evaluate the accuracy of the devices. The innovative devices will be able to assess a woman’s cervix to establish the risk of her having a premature birth, by using electrical impulses to take measurements of the resistance of tissue in the cervix.

The maker of the best-selling cancer drug, Avastin, is warning doctors and patients about counterfeit vials of the product distributed in the U.S. but made abroad.

Feb. 14, 2012 -- The poorer your sleep, the more likely you may be to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. "We found that if people had a lot of awakenings during the night, more than five awakenings in an hour, they are more likely to have preclinical Alzheimer's disease," says researcher Yo-El Ju, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Details of a small clinical trial published in The Lancet on Tuesday reveal how scientists helped patients with hearts damaged by heart attack to re-grow healthy heart muscle and reduce scar tissue with an infusion of stem cells taken from the patients' own hearts.

The cancer rate in children with juvenile arthritis is four times higher than in other children, a new study says. This increased risk of cancer isn't necessarily linked to arthritis treatments, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, according to the study published online Feb. 13 in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. In the United States, TNF inhibitors carry a "black box" warning about the potential cancer risk associated with the drugs. In this study, the researchers analyzed 2000-2005 Medicaid data from more than 7,800 children with juvenile arthritis and comparison groups of about 650,000 children with asthma and nearly 322,000 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Medicare patients flooded two new clinics targeting the older population when they opened in Anchorage last year -- most other primary care doctors wouldn't take the federal insurance for seniors because they say Medicare pays too little.